1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dashboard designed to be mounted in the interior of a vehicle, as well as to a vehicle body equipped with such a dashboard. It is designed, in particular, for motor vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
At the present time, to mount a dashboard in the interior of a vehicle, it is known to pre-assemble all or part of the constitutive members of the dashboard in order to install it in a minimum number of operations.
It is thus known to fix various fittings previously on at least one support member, such as a cross-member.
This being said, parts of some of these fittings have to pass and/or emerge outside the passenger compartment, in particular in the engine compartment. These include, for example, conduits of the heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning apparatus, the steering shaft and/or other items.
For this purpose, the separating wall between the passenger compartment and the engine compartment is provided with openings for the passage of each of the parts of the fittings that have to pass into and/or emerge in the engine compartment, the cross-section of these openings being as small as possible in order to limit thermal and/or phonic bridge phenomena.
It is understandable that such characteristics lead to difficulties in assembling the dashboard on the vehicle as it is not only necessary to position it in order to fix it but, what is more, to fix it opposite the openings.
The object of the present invention is to provide dashboards designed to be mounted in the passenger compartment of a vehicle, as well as a vehicle body, which remedy the aforementioned drawbacks and facilitate their mounting.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will emerge in the course of the description that follows, which is given only by way of illustration and is not intended to limit it.
The invention relates, first of all, to a dashboard, designed to be mounted in the passenger compartment of a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, including one or more fittings and at least one member for supporting said fitting or fittings, the latter having at least a first portion secured to said supporting member or members and a second portion, or so-called free portion, designed to emerge and/or project from the passenger compartment, characterized by the fact that it further includes means for positioning said free portion of said fitting or fittings in relation to said supporting member or members.
The invention also relates to a body for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, constituted by a reinforcement, designed to define at least the passenger compartment and the engine compartment of said vehicle, said body including a separating wall between said engine compartment and said passenger compartment and a dashboard as defined earlier, positioned facing said separating wall.